Holy Cross College, New Zealand: Difference between revisions

Holy Cross College or Holy Cross Seminary is the national Roman Catholic seminary of New Zealand for the training if priests. It was first opened in 1900 in Mosgiel and was relocated to Auckland in 1997.

Earlier seminary

In the late nineteenth century, New Zealand was home to nearly 90,000 Catholics who constituted about 14 per cent of the total population. Of predominantly Irish extraction, these families were catered for by Irish, French and Australian priests. New Zealand born aspirants to the priesthood were generally sent to Australia for training.

In 1850 Bishop Pompallier established a seminary in Auckland. Over the next two decades over twenty priests were ordained for service in New Zealand. All were European, although the seminary provided training for Maori catechists. Hampered by financial difficulties and personality problems the seminary closed in 1869.

Holy Cross seminary established

Various bishops, particularly Patrick Moran first Bishop of Dunedin had expressed conscern over the absence of a national seminary. However, the need for a seminary became even more pressing when New Zealand was created an ecclesiastical province with Wellington as the Metropolitan See in 1887. Prior to this the New Zealand Bishops were largely influenced by Cardinal Moran in Sydney and sent some seminarians to his Manly seminary where Bishop Michael Verdon, the second Bishop of Dunedin (1896-1918) had been Rector.

In 1896 Archbishop Redwood of Wellington wrote to the Cardinal Secretary of Propaganda Fide saying that since New Zealand was an ecclesiastical province it was inappropriate for young New Zealanders studying for the priesthood to do so in Australia. At a 1898 meeting Bishops in Wellington that preceded the Provincial Council meeting it was proposed: "That it is considered advisable for the Clergy assembled in their Diocesan Synods, to discuss the needs of a Seminary, and the probable chances of the erection of same for the whole of New Zealand". The minutes of the meeting also reveal Bishop Verdon's concern that Dr. Murphy, his successor as President of Manly, was neglecting both student welfare and administrative detail. Verdon saw this exemplified in "my most promising student James Liston who returned from Manly to New Zealand undernourished and unwell. Verdon wrote to Dr. Murphy complaining that Liston: " ... was in very poor health indeed when he came home in December and his parentswere greatly troubled about him. They brought him to the best doctor in Dunedin who forbade them to send him again to manly. His parents will keep him at home for some months and then will probably send him to Ireland to continue his studies".

In January 1899 the New Zealand Bishops at the First Provincial Council, held in Wellington, decided to establish a Provincial Seminary for New Zealand. Bisho Verdon was determined that New Zealand should have its own seminary and offered to take full personal responsiblity for the venture. The Council members quickly accepted his generous offer. The seminary was to be a minor (high school, preparatory) as well as a major (arts, philosphy and theology) seminary.On 12 April 1899 Bishop Verdon purchased a house on a 11 acre site at Mosgiel built in 1878. Verdon thought that he could staff the seminary with Vincentian priests. But was unsuccessful in this and decided to start the college with his own priests. The seminary, with elevenn students in residence, and with Bishop Verdon as its first Rector, opened on 3 May 1900, the feast of the Holy Cross.

Holy Cross Seminary at Mosgiel

Holy Cross Seminary was a aplpgetic institution. New Zealand had a largely Irish clergy serving a largely working class Catholic population who were imbued with stories of the English and Irish martyrs. The institution was seen as an anti-Protestant bulwark. New Zealand society at the turn of the century was strongly secterian. Catholics encountered serious difficulties providing their children with a good education and securing jobs for themselves. The curriculum taught at Holy Cross was designed to equip priests to minister within an established minority community and to preserve the identity of that community. The seminary in the modern sense was established by Cardinal Allan at Douay was established in 1568. The idea there and in subsequent institutions was to mould students for the priesthood using a monastic type formation. Only by separating people from the world and giving them a new vision would they be able to re-enter the world and save people from it. This monastic celibate formation gadually came to be seen as an integral part of apologetic education.